A DIFFICULT PATH. 25 



believe, never been traversed by horses before. 

 In vain I begged the men to leave the horses 

 or send them back. They were too lazy to 

 carry the blankets themselves, and preferred 

 to risk their animals. Along some of the 

 grass slopes — slopes too steep to stop on, if 

 you were once off the track — the way was 

 so narrow that with alpenstocks to help us 

 the journey was a difficult and nervous one 

 for pedestrians. The poor brutes were trem- 

 bling: with frig-ht, and that to such an ex- 

 tent that in itself made an accident almost 

 certain. 



Along the very worst part of the path 

 while we held one horse the men took the 

 other, one man leadino- and two holdino; it 

 up or easing its descent by hauling on its 

 tail. 



In this way the second day passed, the 

 first having brought us but a very little way 

 on our road, thanks to a heavy rauistorm, 



